Blizzard has been pretty quiet lately, but they have just posted some new patch notes for the latest live mini-patch 4.2.0A. This patch contained no new content, items, or any of that fun stuff but instead includes a number of system bugfixes. Many of the issues which were causing client crashes have been fixed, so some players should still appreciate this boring little patch!

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm patch 4.2.0A is now available on all realms! Below you'll find the official patch notes.

Bug Fixes

Using an instant cast spell right after a target dies should no longer re-target the dead target’s body.Using an ability immediately after switching targets should no longer affect the previous target.Resolved a movement error when jumping onto an object while experiencing a low frame rate.Mac: Fixed a bug preventing shift and mouse wheel commands from registering properly.Resolved issues that were causing client crashes near Beth’tilac in the Firelands.

Paragon got world first heroic Ragnaros which is by no means a small feat! Over 500 tries later, the Firelord was downed. Other than that, we have a huge news round up and some hotfixes which were just posted.

July 19

General

The frequency at which players can use /yell, /say, and any emotes is now throttled to prevent excessive spamming of chat logs from occurring.

Classes

Death Knights

Improved Death Strike now provides 40/80/120% bonus damage, up from 30/60/90%, and a 10/20/30% critical strike bonus, up from 3/6/9%.

Druids

Flight Form now cancels the Leyara’s Locket buff.

Moonfire will now generate Lunar Energy when crossing from Solar to Lunar on the Eclipse bar.

Dungeons & Raids

All bosses in The Bastion of Twilight, Blackwing Descent, and Throne of the Four Winds once again award Valor Points in all raid sizes and difficulties. 10-player bosses award 35 Valor Points, while 25-player bosses award 45 Valor Points. This change does not apply to Argaloth in Baradin Hold. More informati

Today brings a new batch of 4.2 hotfixes, including a number of changes and fixes to some Firelands encounters, and important details on Blizzard's planned action regarding the recent Season 9 and 10 PVP item mess. We reported on this "disaster" in yesterday's roundup, where Blizzard admitted fault in miscommunication of new PVP item availability, resulting in many players spending their saved Honor points on now-outdated gear. Well, affected players can rejoice because Blizzard plan on making it up to you with some free Honor!

Oh, and no 4.3 details just yet. ;)

Latest 4.2 Hotfixes (7/8)

July 8

Classes

Combat pets should no longer aggro creatures while the player is mounted.

Dungeons & Raids

Firelands

Baleroc

Death knight Bloodworms are no longer removing stacks of Torment when they explode to heal other players.

Ragnaros

Molten Elementals are no longer able to critically hit players.The responsiveness of the Molten

The stationary Chien de l’enfer pack at the front of the dungeon should no longer cause players to become stuck in combat.There are now fewer Chien de l’enfers before Beth'tilac, making the engagement a little less… hellish.Beth'tilac and her offspring now have increased health and damage on Heroic difficulty.Ragegueule's Face Rage is now slightly less rageful, as the increase of the rate of damage per tick has been reduced.Creature

Just a few Blizzard posts today - no new hotfixes yet, but if any show up I'll definitely add them. You can check out previous Patch 4.2 hotfixes in yesterday's roundup!

Some 4.2-Added Hairstyles Not Yet Implemented

You guys may have seen our awesome 4.2 hairstyles preview blog which showed off a variety of new player hairstyles being added with Patch 4.2. Unfortunately, not all of these have been implemented, but it looks like some of them made it to live...

We did have a lot of new hairstyles we had created over time up on the patch 4.2 Public Test Realms. The problem was that, even though these hairstyles were added on the test realms, many of them were not finalized or approved by our art team. Because of this, a good portion of them (about half) were pulled shortly before patch 4.2 was released on live realms, leaving only a partial implementation of new hairstyle choices.

Now that many of you have been introduced to the daily quests available from the faction at the new quest hubs implemented with patch 4.2, we've put together a handy guide to the next phase of daily quests, which is unlocked upon obtaining 20 and completing . This phase brings the counterattack even further into Ragnaros' domain, as the Guardians of Hyjal's forces move into the the via a new portal spawned in Hyjal, and set up their operations at Malfurion's Reach.

At the Sanctuary of Malorne, Arch Druid Hamuul Runetotem gives you the quest , asking you to find and slay the deadly Druid of the Flame, . Upon heading over to her location in Hyjal and after an unpleasant exchange of words, she fatally wounds the Arch Druid and ensnares you in . She quickly makes an escape and you are left with the fallen Arch Dr

Blizzard has just posted a small update to the 4.2 PTR Patch Notes, adding a few class changes and some seemingly major changes to gains, lowering the minimum cap but explaining how the cap can scale linearly. I'm sure this will probably end up confusing some players so we may see further clarification in the coming week.

In what is probably one of the best and most in-depth Blizzard blogs yet, Ghostcrawler takes the time to discuss the class balancing changes that have been made in Patch 4.2, giving specific examples of changes that were made, and why they were made. This new blog provides an interesting look into the development process (as Ghostcrawler's blogs always do) and will definitely answer some players' questions regarding Blizzard's justification of specific changes being made.

We understand that raw patch notes don’t always provide enough context for changes to the game, so we thought we’d take a moment to explain some of our logic behind the buffs and nerfs coming in the 4.2 "Rage of the Firelands" patch. We particularly want to try to combat the perception that classes end up nerfed in PvE as collateral damage from PvP nerfs (or vice versa). The number of PvP buffs versus PvP nerfs were about equal this time around, and we make careful consideration to keep the impact outside of PvP minimal. So, if we nerfed your class’s PvE damage, it’s most likely because we thought your class was doing too much damage in PvE.

Just a few new posts today, including some clarifications on the new changes with Battle.net Authenticators. Players will no longer be prompted for authenticator codes when logging in from a "familiar" location (as tracked and determined by Blizzard). I assume this means it will simply recognize your local IP and no longer prompt for an authenticator code as persistently, which won't help much in protecting your account from family members or criminals who break into your home to hack your Warcraft account. Those exist, right?

Blizzard has also posted a new installment of their "Then and Now" character retrospective series, featuring Anduin Wrynn. In addition, we've got a new short story in the Leaders of Azeroth series, featuring none other than Gelbin Mekkatorque, leader of the gnomes! Alliance players rejoice, this lore's all for you!

Battle.net Authenticator Changes

If you use an authenticator – and we hope you do – you may soon notice that an authenticator prompt may not appear with every login. We’ve recently updated our authentication system to intellige

Patch 4.2 Rage of the Firelands Official Trailer

Blizzard has just unveiled the official trailer for Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands! Enjoy!

Across the breadth of Azeroth, the Horde and the Alliance have dealt crushing blows to Deathwing's elemental minions and fanatic Twilight's Hammer cultists. Through it all, the Earthen Ring has never wavered from its tireless charge, holding Azeroth itself together amid the tidal fury and errant magical energies that churn at the Maelstrom. Yet as the elements continue their chaotic upheaval, it seems that the noble shamanic order might finally be on the verge of breaking beneath the great weight that rests on its shoulders. Even Thrall, for all of his wisdom and skill, has grown aggravated by his failure to effectively communicate with Azeroth's elements. Recently, his calls were acknowledged, but the malevolent entity that responded has only intensified Thrall's fears and doubts....

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm patch 4.2 is just on the horizon. Building off of our preview of the Rage

Just a few new Blizzard posts today, during this quiet calm before the inevitable storm that is Patch 4.2! Today Blizzard has posted a more detailed explanation of the Points de vaillance conversion in 4.2 (as Bashiok had stated they would) which should answer any questions and clear up any confusion players may have had.

In addition, Blizzard poster Kaivax clarifies the proc on with some detailed information which should make many casters happy!

Valor Point Conversion in Patch 4.2

World of Warcraft update 4.2, Rage of the Firelands, will introduce the first new raid tier in Cataclysm, and with that it will also introduce the first conversion from Valor Points to Justice Points. For anyone running Heroics and raids, this is important information to ensure you spend your points wisely before release of the patch.

With the release of patch 4.2 all Valor Points will be converted down to Justice Points up to the 4000 point cap, with any points over the